Miserable at Best
by JorriexLover
Summary: One Shot. Jen Masterson is on her way to Smithdale University and her stepbrother, Jonesy Garcia, is on his way to get her there. But what happened the night before will change her most carefully laid out plans drastically - and will forever change who they are. Jen/Jonesy. Mentions of Jude/Caitlin.


_**A/N: So, this is not only my first 6TEEN fic, but also my first non-wrestling fic on this site. If you know me at all, and most of you probably don't, haha, I'm not one for canon. I've shipped Jonesy/Jen since the first episode; I've just always thought that they looked good together. And I'm also DEFINITELY not a Nikki fan. No offense to anyone that is, she just rubs me the wrong way. Wyatt, too. I know that Jonesy/Nikki and Jude/Jen are the constants this archive, but I want to be different and add some diversity here. Be sure to give me your thoughts! I hope I'm accepted within this archive, too. This shot is named after my favorite band, Mayday Parade's "Miserable at Best." :D**_

Jonesy Garcia stared across the car at his stepsister, Jen Masterson. She sat in the passenger seat with the window down, her straight, reddish-brown hair blowing around in the wind. She was wearing dark black wraparound Aviator sunglasses and had her earphones plugged into her ears - up all the way. She wouldn't look at him and she hadn't said a word since they'd left their house.

Both of their parents had had to work today. His little brothers were at summer camp; their little sister visiting grandparents. Courtney wasn't an option. Nikki was still gone. Jude and Caitlin were in California. Wyatt was...well, he was Wyatt. So it was only logical that Jonesy be the one to drive his stepsister to college. He was going to stay for a couple days to help her...or that was the initial plan. What had happened last night was probably going to affect whether or not he did or didn't. It was stupid, Jonesy knew that for sure. But whether or not it was stupid was irrelevant because he didn't really care. He didn't – and wouldn't ever – regret it.

Jonesy, however, knew that Jen _would_. She would never forgive him for what had happened. _It was wrong_, she said, _so very wrong_. But Jonesy knew it wasn't.

If only he could convince Jen of that.

"Jenner…," he trailed off, eyes still on the road, hands gripping the steering wheel so hard his knuckles were white.

Never looking at him, she snapped back, "Don't call me that. Don't talk to me."

Jonesy noticed the way that his stepsister's jaw clenched as soon as those words had left her lips. "Jen," he tried tentatively once more. "No!" she snapped, louder this time.

_At least she's showing some kind of emotion_, Jonesy thought to himself.

Grumbling loudly, Jonesy began to pull the car toward the side of the highway and without warning, he slammed his large right foot onto the car's break pedal.

Jen body lurched forward and she had to put her arms forward to steady herself on the dashboard. "Jonesy, what the hell?!" she cried out, glaring at him angrily.

"Now see, Jen, this isn't the way things work between us. You and me, we talk when things bother us. I bother you, you bother me, but we _always _talk things through. Never have we ever left things bottled completely inside like you're doing now."

Jen said nothing, heeding the truth in her stepbrother's words. "I don't want to talk about it, though. You were wrong."

Jonesy gave her a small nod. "May_be_. But, you were, too. You didn't have to agree to anything."

Jen chuckled sarcastically. "I didn't have much of a choice. You just showed up and threw yourself on me. In the wee hours of the morning, I might add." The frown returned to her face.

Her stepbrother let out an exasperated sigh. "Jenner…," he sighed again, unable to say what he truly wanted to say. He shut his mouth, darting his eyes back to the road. Putting the car back in drive, he turned left back onto the road. "I guess we'll just get you to the university then, huh?"

"Guess so," Jen replied, putting her aviators back on and gluing her eyes back to the window.

* * *

That didn't happen, though. Smithdale U was much farther away from their town than they had anticipated. Despite Jonesy's vigorous efforts to get Jen to the college before nightfall, they ended up having to spend the night at a sleazy motel with dirty carpeting and rooms with only one full sized bed per room.

Jen, to say the least, was angry. Not only at Jonesy, but at the motel, the college, her parents, her friends, and even at herself. Jonesy was right. It wasn't totally his fault. Though he'd began the episode last night, she'd made no moves to stop him.

While Jonesy was in the bathroom showering, Jen sat on the bed, her knees up against her head and her face buried in her ratty old jeans, tears falling – just as they had the night before. She couldn't help but relive the night in her head.

The night before I go to college_, Jen thought to herself, snuggling underneath the covers of her bed. _For the last time, _she noted wistfully. _

_But Jen was unable to sleep. All she could think about was how much she was truly gonna miss her family. Despite the fact that she'd gotten a full ride soccer scholarship to Smithdale, she was going to miss everyone back home so, so much. Jude and Caitlin, her two adorable best friends who had finally gotten together. Her family, who had finally managed to get on track after two years of trying to figure out where they all belonged. Then there was Jonesy, who she'd leaned on when her best friend, Nikki, moved away. And who had _he_ leaned on when his girlfriend moved? Jen. And when Nikki broke up with him over a text message? None other than Jen. Without one another, they may not have made it,_ Jen had realized.

_ For a few hours, Jen tossed and turned, teared up and cried. Because she didn't want to leave. She didn't want to leave Jonesy. _

_ Sometime around midnight, she dozed off and awoke to Jonesy's face right up next to hers. _

_ "Jonesy?" she'd asked, groggily. _

_ He'd smiled wanly in the dark. "I'm sorry…I just wanted to talk to you – alone." _

_ She let out a small yawn and tried to ignore the annoying, but ever there, steadying pound of her heart. "What do you want to talk about?" she asked, switching her bedside lamp on and letting a very dim light enter the room. _

_ He shrugged as she scooted over, sat up, and patted the spot beside her. _

_ "Talk to me," she whispered. _

_ He shook his head. "I can't talk to you about this." _

_ "What is _this_?" she asked. _

_ He chuckled. "Nothing, Jen. Nothing." _

_ "Jonesy…," she sang, looking him straight in the eye, "you tell me right now." _

_ He sighed. "Fine," he trailed off, "Jenner…I don't want you to leave." _

_ She gave him a wan smile. "I don't wanna leave either, Jones," she whispered. "But I've got to." _

_ Jonesy frowned. "Why couldn't you have gone to a college closer?" he asked, "with me?" _

_ She pursed her lips. "Smithdale is a great school," she explained, "Smithdale has a great soccer program. Smithdale's-"_

_ "Okay, okay," he interrupted her. "I get it, Jenner." _

_ Jen had smiled at her nickname. Jonesy had called her that since they'd met when they were kids. Her ex-boyfriend, Smithy, had called her that, too, but he wasn't the first. Nor was he Jonesy, the boy she actually loved. _

_ Forever. She'd loved him since the moment she'd first seen him. But the only girl he could see was Nikki, her best friend. Actually, since his break up with Nikki, Jen hadn't talked to her much. Probably because she'd taken his side, but, in all fairness, Jonesy _was _family. _

_ Which was why her crush was so ridiculous and so…wrong. He was practically her brother, not to mention her best friend in the world, including Jude and Caitlin. Besides, he'd only ever had had eyes for Nikki. It wouldn't be right for her to snatch him up in a moment of weakness, which was why she'd opted to keep it a secret. Only she knew. _

_ Not only was it completely frustrating, but incredibly exhausting, too. To be so in love with someone and unable to do _anything_ about it. To feel so strongly for another person and have to keep it completely under wraps and to yourself. And it was for this reason that Jen believed going to college was a saving grace, a blessing in disguise to her heart. But it wasn't. It only sharpened the pain. _

_ "But that doesn't change anything," he continued, "look...I get that college is important. So important. But I can't let you leave without letting you know something." _

_ "Know what?" she'd asked. _

_ Jonesy leaned forward, an unreadable emotion in his eyes. Goosebumps popped up on her arm and her breath hitched as he got closer. _

_ What happened next was surreal. At times, it felt so incredibly fast. Like it had came and went so quickly that it depressed her. At the time, it felt incredibly tedious, as if her stepbrother had literally frozen at different intervals. The anticipation felt strong enough to kill her. _

_ But when Jonesy's lips touched hers, everything became so much murkier - and so much clearer - than ever before. Agonizingly slowly, the kiss became deeper and more passionate, teeth and tongues becoming part of the equation. A small gasp escaped from Jen's lips and she began to pull at her tank top. Jonesy took that as a sign that she wasn't disgusted and did the same with his white T-shirt. _

_ Jen was a virgin; Jonesy was not. But at the moment, neither of that mattered._

_ Jonesy pulled away and leaned his forehead against Jen, who was gasping for air. "I'm so in love with you, Jenner." _

_ Jen's pounding heart's pace picked up and she thought that it might explode from her ribcage. Instead of replying, she placed his sad face in her hands and brought his mouth to hers again. She loved him, too, but telling him would make this so much harder than it already was. The kiss didn't end as the rest of their clothes came off. _

_ Jen assumed Jonesy would not be gentle with her, as he was known to be such a stud in bed. She assumed that he'd use her and lose her. She assumed that he didn't care if she enjoyed herself or not, that once he had reached his climax, he would be done. _

_ She assumed wrong. _

_ When Jonesy reached the edge of the apex, he merely brought her with him._

_ That night, Jen Masterson learned what love was. Jonesy Garcia did, too. They'd given themselves to each other and, at the time, without remorse. It was both of their first times to make love. Jen had never came close to this connection of love. In a certain sense, Jonesy hadn't, either. All of the other girls he'd slept with, Nikki included, were all meaningless, scapegoats for his feelings for Jen. After coming down from their respective climaxes, they fell asleep in each other's arms, tired and content and sad. _

_ Jen woke up before Jonesy at around six am. She cried, not only because of what had happened the night before, but for what it meant. She could have been Jonesy's, and he could have been hers. But because she'd been so ignorant, it couldn't happen now. _

Silence was better than explanations.

Jen knew that if she talked to Jonesy, he could break her down. He could convince her that what happened between them was indeed, not a mistake. And she'd believe him just because he said it. She loved him too much to not agree with him, especially when she knew she wanted so badly to believe the same.

Her stepbrother came out of the bathroom clad in only black gym shorts that showed off his tan, muscular body. She looked away.

Jonesy didn't know what the right thing to do was. Though he wanted more than anything to fix this, Jen wouldn't talk to him and wouldn't listen to him. He couldn't let her get away, not now that she knew how he felt.

But who was he kidding? She probably didn't even like him, not that way, at least. If she did, she would have never ignored him in the first place - and she would have told him so last night when he'd so vulnerably admitted his feelings for her. She probably found him pathetic - a stupid, lazy teenager without a cause. Sure, he'd graduated, too, but he was going to a stupid, local trade school to become a diesel mechanic. She was going to a university to become a famous, talented soccer star. She deserved so much better.

"I'm sorry," he finally said, sitting down on the opposite bed.

She lifted her head up and he saw her red face and puffy eyes. It didn't take a rocket scientist to discover that she had been crying.

"I'm sorry for so many things, Jen," he sighed, "I'm sorry for leading Nikki on, I'm sorry for never telling you how I feel, I'm sorry I put you in this situation...," he trailed off, watching for a reaction.

Jen didn't say anything, she just stared at her fingernails. The fingernails she'd nervously bitten off on the ride over.

"But I won't apologize for loving you. It was never my choice and I can't help it. I won't feel ashamed for something that I have no control over," he paused, "now, I understand your reasoning. We're step-siblings. You're going to college. Nikki's my ex. And most importantly, while you're going to be a soccer star, I'm going to be working on cars. You're destined for bigger, better things and you probably don't even feel for me the way I feel for you," he lowered his eyes, sadly, defeated.

"I love you, though. I do. I just wanted you to know. I also want you to know that any time you need me, I'll be here. I'll be your best friend if I must, your fiancé's best man at your wedding, whatever I need to be. I'm just happy to have had that one special night with you."

Jen felt tears prick to her eyes as she watched the cascading tears run down her stepbrother's face. Who was this boy who sat before her? The Jonesy she knew was in no way a crier. He wasn't one to admit his feelings, either. She carefully placed her feet on the floor and walked to where Jonesy sat, perching down beside him.

"You surprise me a lot, Jonesy. But this time really and truly beats it all. You are _so_ blind!"

Jonesy's face fell and he stared at his hands, which were folded nervously in his lap.

"Don't you get it?" Jen's voice - and her brown eyes - softened. "I love you, too. I always have. I just always assumed you loved Nikki. But I can tell you, Jones, that no one's ever loved you like I have. I was so depressed when our parents got married. I love your dad and your brothers and I love our sister and I love how happy my mom is. But I can't stand the fact of us being related...It's wrong. When you love someone the way I love you, nothing should stand in the way.

"I was wrong. I thought that shutting you out and hiding my feelings would make this all go away. But it didn't, it only made it worse. The truth is, I've never been able to see my life without you in it," Jen bit her lip, as she felt the waterworks finally break the dam she'd put up and they fell.

Through all of the sadness the two of them felt, a small smile began to play on Jonesy's lips. "We're gonna make it, Jen, I promise. You know, maybe I'll just come with you. We can get an apartment and I can get a job. Then, next semester, I can somehow _try_ to make it into the classes. If not, we'll figure it out."

She nodded, leaning her head against his shoulder. "Good, because you're plain stuck with me now."

A rush of relief shot through Jonesy. "Thank God."

"It's gonna be difficult," Jen went on, "but we're not _technically _related. It's not illegal. It's not even incest. We're related by _marriage_, not blood. This happens on soap operas all the time."

"We should give our kids names that start with J," Jonesy announced, triumphantly.

Jen nodded. "That sounds perfect."

And it was.

**A bit of a cheesy ending, I'll admit. Oh well. I've been working on this since May and I just happened to stumble across it last night and decided to **_**FINALLY **_**finish it. I've had a few really rough things going on lately and I not only found writing this nostalgic, but also, oddly therapeutic. Please drop me a note to tell me what you think! :)**

** -Kalina **


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